Hair conditioning products are well-known; they are used to provide a wide range of benefits to the user. Examples of such benefits include conditioning, moisturizing, split end repair, and enhanced body, volume, shine and/or strength. These types of products are frequently used as leave-on products, i.e., they are applied after the hair is washed, and left on the hair until the next washing. However, combination products which provide both cleaning and a hair conditioning benefit are also quite well-known.
A variety of materials have been used in the art to provide these hair care benefits. Examples of such materials include silicones, waxes (see, for example, U.S. Published Patent Application 2007/0184007), quaternary ammonium materials, pre-formed polymers, and monomeric materials which are not polymerized (see, for example, U.S. Published Patent Application 2009/0104136). While each of these components can be formulated to provide desirable hair care and hair conditioning benefits, each also has certain formulational and usage limitations. For example, silicones, waxes and quaternary ammonium materials can leave hair with a greasy/oily look and feel, if not used correctly, and at precisely the correct levels. Further, polymers in hair care products can exhibit efficacy and longevity issues. For example, many existing hair care treatments are not robust (i.e., long-lasting) and can lose their efficacy over the course of a day. Many treatments lose their efficacy upon exposure to water or excess humidity. In addition, many hair treatments weigh down hair, flake off, leave unsightly residues, fail to dry and set quickly, do not provide adequate hold, and are not effective for hard to treat hair, such as naturally curly hair. Treatments have been developed which overcome some of these issues; however, they typically involve permanently treating the hair with reducing and/or oxidizing agents, which can damage hair. Thus, there remains a need for hair treatments that withstand the rigors of a typical user's daily routine and can maintain efficacy in a variety of environments without damaging hair fibers. There is, therefore, a desire to formulate a composition which provides styling and/or conditioning benefits to hair using simple molecules which are easy to obtain and formulate, provide long-lasting benefits, and avoid the build-up of waxy, oily or scaly residue on the hair.
Conjugated unsaturated oils, derived from vegetables, nuts or fish, are generally known. Such materials include, for example, sunflower oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, rapeseed oil, linseed oil, canola oil, walnut oil, corn oil, tung oil, and flaxseed oil. They are frequently used for cooking and, even, furniture finishing. Some vegetable and nut oils have been used in hair care products. Examples of such oils include olive oil and linseed oil, which have been used in hair conditioning products; see, for example, The Body Shop Rainforest Radiance Conditioner (linseed oil); Softee Extra Virgin Olive Oil Hair and Scalp Conditioner; and Kiehl's Since 1851 Sunflower Oil Color Preserving Conditioner. Those oils do not have high iodine values (i.e., they are not sufficiently unsaturated) and are not formulated to polymerize to any significant degree on the hair.
Drying oils, having high iodine values, are known for use in formulating oil paints, varnishes and other coating compositions. They provide this coating effect after application to a surface by polymerizing when exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere. Drying oils have not heretofore been used in hair compositions in a formulation which allows crosslinking and polymerization thereby providing a styling and/or conditioning benefit to the hair; such compositions provide enhanced efficacy and longevity of the conditioning benefit.
U.S. Published Patent Application 2007/0184007, Walter et al, published Aug. 9, 2007, describes a form of wax composition which is said to be non-yellowing and which can advantageously be used in hairstyling products. The materials disclosed are fully esterified di- or oligosaccharide polyesters, and particularly octaesters of sucrose with C8-C30 fatty acids, such as benenic acid and fatty acids derived from cotton seed oil.
U.S. Published Patent Application 2009/0104136, Anderson et al, published Apr. 23, 2009, defines a method of obtaining hair conditioning and styling through the application of specific compounds, such as octafluoropentyl methacrylate (OFPMA). The disclosed method, which utilizes these materials, does not rely on heating of the hair or application of a free-radical initiator or a heat-activated initiator to polymerize the materials. In fact, it is taught that the materials do not polymerize on the hair.